UAE lawyer criticizes Damac on UK’s Channel 4

A Dubai-based lawyer criticized Damac Properties on a show broadcast on the UK’s Channel 4, reports Arabian Business.

Ludmila Yamalova, a partner at Al Sayyah Advocates, was interviewed as part of an eight-minute special report for Channel 4 News on the Dubai-based developer. The report also features disgruntled investors who said they were unaware that Damac sold off-plan units on a site that was already occupied by the United Nations.

The report aired on Monday.

Yamalova said to Arabian Business: “As far as the Lotus project was concerned, they had launched and sold a project on a plot of land on which there is an existing building occupied by tenants, so I find it highly questionable that they had all the necessary approvals and licenses in place as required by law in order to launch the project.”

However, a spokesperson for the developer insists Damac adhered to “all regulatory regulations in regard to The Lotus: “The land for the Lotus Development was purchased by Damac Properties, from Dubai Properties, at public auction.”

Also check out Arabian Business Magazine issue 30, dated july 26, which also stated on page 16 that another lawyer, Jeff Kershaw, is also accusing DAMAC on behalf of his clients about selling flats that they did not own on land that they could not use. If this is true, then you know what label should be applied to them as a company.